Traveling attachment for buildings.



PATENTED SEPT. 19, 1905.

T. MGOONNELL. TRAVELING ATTACHMENT FOR BUILDINGS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6, 1904.

2 S HEETS-SHEET 1.

7 11 Maine 336.

to .n c. :vwazw a mum cu. morc-umosmvuws. WAS" a THOMAS MGOONNELL, OFSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

TRAVELING ATTACHMENT FOR BUILDINGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1905.

Application filed December 6, 1904. Serial No. 235,766.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS MoCoNNELL, acitizen of the United States, residing at the city and in the county ofSan Francisco and State of California, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Traveling Attachments for Buildings, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to attachments which are especially designed forbuildings and for the purpose of saving life and property in case offires and generally to make access to any part of the buildingconvenientfrom the front.

It consists in a combination of mechanism whereby the desired resultsare effected and details of construction which will be more fullyexplained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1is a front elevation showing the application of my device. Fig. 2 is anend view of same.

Great difficulty is experienced with the pres ent apparatus in use inobtaining access to buildings in which fire takes place, and especiallyto high buildings and various parts of the front.

It is the object of my invention to make such access easy and rapid, toassist in the removal of persons or property from the windows at variousheights in the building, to enable the firemen to conveniently applywater at different points, and to obtain easy access to any part of thebuilding front.

As shown in the drawings, I have represented a building front A, and tothis is at-' tached in any suitable or desired manner a stout rail ortrack 2, which is properly supported by brackets, as at 3. If only onefront of the building is exposed to the street, the rail upon this sidewill be sufIicient; but if the building be isolated the rail may becarried around as many of the. sides as are convenientl y within reach,being curved at the angles, so that the car to be hereinafter describedcan be moved about these angles and be made to travel upon either sideof the building, as re.

quired.

4: is a stout frame, here shown as being rectangular in shape and havingjournaled between the front and back portions pulleysor rollers 5, whichare adapted to travel upon the top of the rail. Upon the front of theframe may be journaled vertical single rollers, as at 6, so placed as totravel against the front side of the rail,'and at the rear are journaledother rollers 7, adapted to travelagainst the back of the rail. Theserear rollers are made short, so that one rolls near the top of the rail2 and the other near the bottom, and they are sufiiciently separated sothat they will pass the shanks of the brackets 3, from which the rail issupported, thus allowing the frame to be rolled from one end to theother of the track.

8 represents rollers journaled so as to stand horizontally outward fromthe lower partof the frame 4, and these rollers are adapted to travelagainst the guide-rail 9, which is fixed along the building front andbelow the line of the track 2. These various guide-rollers insure thesteadiness of the frame and prevent it from swinging unduly.

10 is a car made of any suitable size and material. Such a car may beconveniently made of stout iron top and bottom rails with wirelattice-work sides and a close sheet-metal bottom fixed thereon. Thiscar should be made of suflicient size to receive any required number ofoperators, firemen, or passengers, depending upon the character of thebuilding to which it is to be attached. The bottom of the car may beprovided with wheels, as at 11, so that when resting upon the ground itmay be disengaged from its other attachments and moved or stored in anyconvenient place. This car is suspended from the frame 4 by means ofchains 12 passing around rollers 13 at the ends of the frame and otherrollers 14:,

centrally located. One of these chains thus passes up over one roller atthe end of the frame, thence over a corresponding inner roller, thencedown over a winding-drum 15. The other chain in like manner is fastenedto the opposite end of the car, extends up over the roller at that endof the car, thence over a corresponding central roller, thencedown tothe winding-drum 15. Thisdrum is mounted upon the same shaft with agear-wheel 16, the

shaft being journaled in asuitable frame carried within the car 10.

17 is a pinion engaging the teeth of the gear 16, and by means of atrain of gearing connecting with the shaft of the pinion 17 motion. istransmitted thereto from a windingshaft 18. Upon this shaft is also aratchetwheel 19, which is engaged by a pawl 20 to prevent its revolvingand to thus hold the car at any desired level to which it may have beenraised. The raising of the car is effected by cranks upon thewinding-shaft, as shown at 21, and when the car is to be raised, thecranks being turned in the proper direction for that purpose, thewinding of the chains 12 upon the drum 15 will raise the car and thepawl will hold every tooth of the ratchetwheel as fast as it is broughtinto engagement therewith.

In case it is desired to lock the pawl and prevent its being lifted fromthe ratchet I have shown a supplemental pawl 23, pivoted above the pawland turnable, so that it may engage a notch in the back of thefirstnamed pawl, and thus prevent its being disengaged froin theratchet-wheel when this second pawl is thrown out of engagement. and ifit is desired to engage the first-named pawl and free the ratchet, sothat the car may be lowered, this is effected by means of a lifter 24,mounted upon a shaft 25, having a crank or other convenient attachment,as 26, and by means of this device the lifter may be raised so as tocontact with the lower side of the pawl, and thus disengage the pawl andallow the ratchet-wheel, shaft, and connected parts to turn freely. Thisbeing effected, the car may be lowered by revolving the shafts in theopposite direction and unwinding the chain from the drum. In this mannerit is possible to raise or lower the car to the level of any story orpart of the' building to which it is desired to obtain access.

At some convenient point or points within the car are located standards27, within which are fixed substantially vertical pipes 28, havingcouplings of any suitable description at the upper andlower ends andadapted to receive the corresponding coupling ends of hose, as at 29. Tothe upper end of this pipe may be coupled a length of hose sufi'icientto be introduced into the building through the windows or other openingswhen the car stands in suitable position for this purpose. lower end ofthe pipe is attached a length of hose, as 30, which drops down throughthe bottom ofthe car and thence may extend along the ground to ahydrant, engine, or other source of'water-supply. Thus the weight of agreat length of hose may be carried up to any desired height by raisingthe car to which it has been connected, and the only portion that itwill be necessary to move about will be the shorter and lighter uppersections.

Suitable movable rollers or pulleys, as at 31, may be journaled upon thestandards 27, and these will serve for easily moving the hose or ropesor chains which may be passed over them.

32 represents short chains extending from either side of the ends of thecar upward and connecting with the hoisting-chains at such an angle thatthey serve as braces to prevent the car from being tilted unduly aboutits suspending-points. In addition to this I have 4 shown other chains34 connected with the To the These chains are of sufficient length todrop down through the guides and openings upon the car and thence to bereturned with the ends attached to the car. By suitable pins or clampsthese chains may be locked to the sides of the car, and any tilting ofthe car will be thus prevented In order to traverse the car around thetrack 2, I have shown the shaft of one of the rollers 5 as having apinion 37 fixed upon it, and this is engaged by a gear-wheel 38 upon ashaft which is journalcd upon the frame 4:. Upon the same shaft is asprocket-wheel 39, around which passes an endless chain 40. This chainpasses down through suitable guides and through the bottom of the carand has sufiicient length to hang close to the ground, so that bypulling upon one side or the other of the chain the sprocket 40 andconnected gears will be revolved and the frame will be caused to travelalong the rail 2 in either direction.

The chain may be operated either from the ground or from the car, asrequired.

The car carries upon it ladders, hooks, axes, and supplemental ropes andchains, and all the paraphernalia which may be required about a fire.These ladders can be extended from the car to a window which is oppositeor near to the car, but too distant for persons to reach the car fromthe window. Thus a safe passage may be effected.

It will be seen that if portions of the building are burning, otherportions not yet ignited, the car may be raised or lowered so as to passsuch portions and thence be moved down or up again to openings which itmay be desired to reach.

Lanterns may be conveniently fixed to the chains or parts of the car toprovide all required light that may be needed.

If it is desired to drop the car rapidly and safely, it may be effectedby means of a powerful band or other brake. In the present case I haveshown a brake-drum at 4:0 mounted upon the crank-shaft and surrounded bya band-brake. A foot-lever 41 with connecting rod and crank interveningserve to apply power to the band-brake sufficiently to hold the car insuspension when the pawl has been released from the ratchet. Then bycarefully releasing the pressure the shaft will be allowed to revolveand the car to descend at any desired rate of speed. The brake willserve to check it before reaching the ground to prevent accident.

In order to prevent the apparatus from swinging to and from thebuilding, I have shown bars 42 slidable in guides transverse to the endsof the car, and these guides are locked by suitable holding devices, asat 43. By releasing the locking devices the bars may be slid in theirguides until the ends contact against the side of the building, whenthey may be again locked. Thus the apparatus is held steadily in placeat any desired point.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. An attachment for buildings comprising a rail, brackets upon which itis supported parallel with the upper portion thereof, a frame havingrollers adapted to travel upon the rail, rollers journaled verticallyupon the frame exterior to the rail and rollers similarly journaledinterior to the rail, said interior rollers being separated to allowthem to pass the supporting-brackets, and means carried by the framebelow the aforesaid rollers adapted to contact with the building andprevent transverse vibration of the frame.

2. An attachment for buildings consisting of a rail brackets by which itis supported parallel with the upper part of the building, a frame withrollers adapted to travel upon the rail, inner and outer guide-rollers,other rollers journaled to revolve horizontally, and in contact with thebuilding against which said rollers travel to prevent transversevibration.

3. An attachment for buildings consisting of a rail, brackets by whichit is fixed parallel with and away from the upper part of the building,a guide on the building belowthe level of the rail, a frame havingrollers adapted to travel upon the rail, guide-rollers traveling uponeach side of said rail, other rollers journaled to travel against thesaid guide on the building, pulleys journaled in the lower part of theframe, a car,chains connecting with the end of the car passing over saidpulleys, a winding-drum located within the car around which said chainspass, and means for revolving said drum to raise or depress the car.

L. An attachment for buildings, consisting of a substantially horizontalrail supported from the building front, a frame having rollers adaptedto travel upon said rail, and means to maintain it substantiallyvertical, a car, chains connected with the ends of the car, pulleys inthe lower part of the frame over which said chains pass from oppositeends to the center, a winding-drum carried upon the car around whichsaid chains pass, a train of gearing and a crank-shaft whereby power maybe applied to raise or lower the car with relation to the travelingframe, and pawl-and-ratchet mechanism by which it may be held at anydesired elevation.

5. An attachment for buildings comprising a fixed horizontal rail, aframe having rollers adapted to travel upon the rail, mechanism by whichthe frame may be caused to travel along the rail, a car suspended fromthe lower part of the frame, a winding-drum mechanism by which the carmay be raised or lowered independently of its horizontal movements, apawl and ratchet by which the winding mechanism may be arrested, and alocking-pawl adapted to engage the main pawl and hold it in engagementwith the ratchet.

gearing, pawl-and-ratchet mechanism by which the movement of thewinding-drum may be arrested, and a crank-shaft and lifter whereby theratchet may be disengaged.

7. An apparatus and attachment for build ings comprising ahorizontally-disposed rail fixed parallel to the upper part of thebuilding front, a frame with rollers and mechanism by which it is guidedand caused to travel upon the rail, a car suspended from the lower partof said frame, a winding-drum carried by the car, and gear mechanism andcranks by which said drum may be rotated to raise or lower the car, anda brake acting upon said winding mechanism to control its descent.

8. An apparatus comprisingarail fixed parallel with the upper portion ofthe building, a frame with supporting and guide rollers and chain-pulleyand gearing by which it may be advanced along the track, a car, chainsby which it is suspended from the lower part of the frame, awinding-drum and mechanism by which said drum is rotated to raise orlower the car, said winding-drum and raising and lowering mechanismbeing operable from the car and pipe-standards fixed in the car andcouplings at the upper and the lower end adapted for the connection ofhose to the lower and upper ends respectively.

9. An apparatus and attachment for buildings comprising a horizontaltraveling frame, a car suspended therefrom, mechanism by which said carmay be raised or lowered independently of the horizontal movement, meansfor steadying the car, said means comprising chains divergent from thelower part of the traveling frame passing throughthe corners of the car,and pins or clamps by which said chains may be locked to prevent thetilting of the car.

10. An attachment for buildings comprising a horizontal traveling frame,and a rail upon which it is carried contiguous to the upper part of thebuilding, a car, chains extend- Y ing from the ends of the car passingover pulleys upon the frame, a winding-drum carried by the car,mechanism by which said drum is revolved to raise or lower the car,bracechains extending from the sides on each end of the car andconnecting with the hoistingchains, and other chains diverging from theends of the traveling frame passing through guides upon the ends of thecar, and means for clamping said chains to prevent the oscillations ofthe car.

11. An apparatus and attachment for buildings comprising a frame, atrack upon which said frame may travel parallel with the upper part ofthe building, a car suspended from In testimony whereof I have hereuntoset my hand in presence of two subscribing W1t- I0 nesses.

THOMAS MOGONN ELL.

Witnesses:

S, H. Nonnsn, HENRY P. TRICOU.

